DBMS: Third Normal Form (Definitions)

"Table data that complies with both the first and second normal forms and directly relates to each rows primary key. See also first normal form; second normal form." (Robert D Schneider & Darril Gibson, "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies", 2008)

"In relational theory, the third of Dr. Codd’s constraints on a relational design: Each attribute must depend only on the primary key." (David C Hay, "Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map", 2010)

"Database design approach that eliminates redundancy and therefore facilitates insertion of new rows into tables in an OLTP application without introducing excessive data locking problems.  Sometimes referred to as normalized." (Ralph Kimball & Margy Ross, "The Data Warehouse Toolkit" 2nd Ed., 2002)

"A level of normalization in which all attributes in a table are fully dependent on its entire key. Third normal form is widely accepted as the optimal design for a transaction system. A schema in third normal form is often referred to as fully normalized, although there are actually additional degrees of normalization possible." (Christopher Adamson, "Mastering Data Warehouse Aggregates", 2006)

"A table is in 3NF if it is in 2NF and it contains no transitive dependencies." (Rod Stephens, "Beginning Database Design Solutions", 2008)

"A table is in third normal form (3NF) if and only if for every functional dependency X->A, where X and A are either simple or composite attributes (data items), either X must be a superkey or A must be a member attribute of a candidate key in that table." (Toby J Teorey, ", Database Modeling and Design 4th Ed", 2010)

"A table is in 3NF when it is in 2NF and no non-key attribute is functionally dependent on another non-key attribute; that is, it cannot include transitive dependencies." (Carlos Coronel et al, "Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management 9th Ed", 2011)

"An entity is in third normal form if and only if it is in second normal form and every non-key attribute is non-transitively dependent on the primary key." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration", 2012)